That's a possibility. I'll do a little asking around and see if
anything comes up.

--
Michael A. Barlow
"Alan French" wrote in message
.. .

Michael,

One night many years ago Sue and I spotted a star in bright evening
twilight
while hiking near the club's observatory. At first, we thought it was
Jupiter, and wondered how long it would be before it would be dark enough
to
reveal Mars, which was not far from Jupiter at the time. Looking farther
westward, we spotted Venus, and realized the "star" was too bright for
Jupiter. We then noticed Jupiter and Mars, and our extra bright star
became
a mystery. We headed down the trail toward the observatory, glacing from
time to time at the mysterious interloper. As I glanced at it once, it
suddenly vanished, and I thought I glimpsed a brief line of light as it
disappeared.

Sue is not one to let a mystery go unsolved, so she spent part of the next
morning on the phone. We had seen a weather balloon and its demise. More
recently, we saw another, also very bright. This one was viewed by a
neighbor with an RV-6, and he could see the instrument package below the
balloon. That is certainly a possible explanation for your mysterious
star.

Clear skies, Alan